I wanted to present ideas I think would help both classes at the moment.  This is a concept change though, bug fixes should happen which should help with some of the trouble - but the underlying issues are still very visible.  Please feel free to provide feedback, criticism, or flame me if thats your thing.

[B]Bard:[/B]

* [B]Barrage should also apply to AoE skills.[/B] I'm not entirely sure why it doesn't either.  Its a 90s cooldown, and our strongest AoE would be Wide Volley in WanMin stance.  The damage would still be far and below that of any of the pure-DPS AoE classes.
* [B]Abilities/Off-CD weaponskills should remain insta-cast even during WM stance.[/B] The cast time should only apply to skills like Heavy Shot, Straight Shot, Wide Volley/Quick Nock, Windbite/Venomous Bite.  If we originally weaved skills into our rotation (Bloodletter, Rain of Death, Flaming Arrow, Blunt Arrow, etc etc) - they should remain that way.  Nobody wants to have to "cast" Bloodletter.  Thats stupid.
* [B]Sidewinder should be classified as a Weaponskill and thus be subject to Barrage activation.[/B] As per the above change to off-CD skills, I do not agree that such a power-house should be insta-cast in WanMin.  I do think that it should be usable with Barrage though which means it should be a weaponskill.  I would definitely be fine with having a cast time and dedicated gcd usage for that.
* [B]WanMin should be insta-cast with a 5-10s cooldown.[/B] This doesnt actually need explanation.
* [B]WanMin should be a 35% damage increase.[/B] We've given up mobility, auto-attacks, and insta-casts for the sake of this skill.  It needs be much more compensated in terms of damage if thats the case.

[B]Machinist:[/B]
* [B]Ammo system needs to be completely reworked in both design and concept.[/B] Its just really bad.  Reload +20 potency passive is a drip in the bucket, ammo is consumed by skills that have no right to consume it.
* [B]Split/Slug/Clean Shot need to be altered in several ways.[/B] For starters, Clean Shot is too weak considering its depending on 2 layers of RNG to even make worth using.  I think 300 potency is the right number for it when triggered properly.  Secondly, it was mentioned in a live letter that the RNG would be very forgiving for this chain.  If you use Split Shot and it doesn't trigger the 50% proc, the second time you use it - it was supposed to be 100%, so on and so forth for Slug Shot.  This is how it should be, and would probably correct the single target problems for MCH for the most part.
* [B]Reassemble needs to work with AoE skills completely.[/B] There really is no reason to make this single-target only.  Similar to the Barrage change I mentioned for BRD - it just doesn't need to be so restricted.
* [B]Heartbreak needs a secondary effect.[/B] I'll lay this one out straight.  None of the execution skills in this game should stay the way they are.  They should all have secondary effects that make them stand out from each other.  Heartbreak for instance, could refresh the cooldown of Quick Reload if used within 3s of an enemies death.
* [B]Hot Shot should just be removed entirely or buffed.[/B] 5% damage for 30s just seems like they needed any old skill added to fill up the skillbar.  Either make it 10% for 20 seconds (similar to Straight Shot) - or remove it completely and give us something worthwhile.
* [B]Wildfire needs to ignore resistances when activating.[/B] Right now WF faces two layers of resistances, 1 on the damage accumulation from all the skills you're feeding it, and 2 on the actual triggering of the explosion.  Also it needs a noticeable animation and sound effect.
* [B]Turret Retrieval should do something useful.[/B] Its actually not even a necessary skill.  It doesnt do anything other than remove the turret, which is unnecessary the way turrets have been implemented.
* [B]Dismantle and Rend Mind need to be strengthened to 10%.[/B] They share a cooldown for crying out loud.  At least give them proper damage reduction in line with similar skills from other classes.
* [B]Gauss Barrel should always be insta-cast but with a 5-10s cooldown.[/B] Bugs notwithstanding, I actually think the MCH skill tree is much better suited to the +20% damage and loss of mobility/auto-attacks/add cast time, where BRD does not do so as gracefully.  That said it should never be a pain in the ass for either of these skills to have a cast time on them.

So there you have it.  MCH is in a much better place than BRD in terms of AoE damage, but falls very far behind BRD in terms of single target.  I think my proposed changes would correct the complaints and misgivings of both of these classes moving forward - and may even quell the hatred coming from the always-mobile-masses that feel their class rights have been infringed upon and unfairly compensated.

Thanks for reading!